Page 61 of When Wrecked Meets Ruined
“I don’t know. I just…” Her eyes lowered to the ground. “I should have stood up for you in ninth grade.”
Guilt. I should have known. Now the burden fell on me to makeherfeel better. “Are you the one who wrote slut on my locker?”
“No.”
“Are you the one who collected money from your teammates for taking my virginity?”
She shook her head. “No, but—”
“Then don’t worry about it. I absolve you of all guilt. Go in peace.” I made some freaky sign of the cross like I was the priest, and she was the sinner. “It’s ancient history. I’ll see you around.”
I had no interest in hanging around to listen to more, so I walked away.
Then it dawned on me. Ridge’s fucked-up hand. Had he punched a wall because of me? Because of what happened with Chad?
Oh god. I felt queasy.
* * *
When I walked through the front door, I heard music and my mother’s laughter coming from the backyard. Whenever my mother acted like an actual mother, it always shocked me. From the kitchen window, I watched Wren dancing under the spray from the hose my mother was holding.
Before they had a chance to spot me, I made a beeline for the bathroom and stood under the shower, ridding myself of the scent of bacon and burger grease.
Dressed in shorts and a tank top, I gathered my wet hair into a messy bun and secured it on top of my head as I crossed the kitchen, my flip flops slapping on the linoleum.
My mother looked over her shoulder and patted the space next to her on the cinder block. “Come on out and join us.”
I opened the screen door and dropped down next to her. The backyard looked like a swamp. Wren was still dancing under the spray in her blue and white polka dot swimsuit and when she saw that she had an audience, she hammed it up, shaking her hips and singing along to the music, making up her own lyrics.
Seeing Wren happy and loving life put a smile on my face.
“She looks so much like you did at her age,” my mom said. “A little entertainer, just like you used to be.”
“I was never an entertainer.”
“Oh, yes, you were.” She gave me a little smile. “You used to dance and sing for me and Lin all the time.”
Lin. My mom’s sister Lindsay. Life had been better with her in it. “I don’t remember that.”
“You always remember the bad. Never the good.” She handed me the hose and lit a cigarette, squinting against the smoke. “So you’ve got yourself a new boyfriend, huh?”
It was the first time my mother had mentioned it. Wade had never said a word. Maybe they’d forgotten. Or maybe they had better things to worry about. Like their next fix. Or the fact that my mother had lost her job at the strip club.
“I don’t have a boyfriend.”
“Well, whoever he is, you best keep him away. Wade said if he ever trespasses again, he’ll shoot him. We got the right to stand our ground, you know.”
Oh my god. “He was trying to protectyou.”
My mom sniffed. “Should have minded his own damn business.”
I shook my head. “You threw a bottle at his head, Mom.”
“I did?” She waved her hand in the air. “Well, that night’s a little hazy.”
“Maybe you should lay off the drugs. They’re killing all your brain cells.”
She huffed. “I’m trying to do my best here, Evie.”
